Well, maybe if it was Game 7. But then it would be in Dallas and that’s a whole different result.

In sports, a lot of us have become repulsed by cliches, by ridiculous preconceived storylines forced down our throats. But there is still something powerful, something palpable, about stories like what Brandon Roy did in Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks in Portland. In front of a desperate, always emotional Rose Garden crowd, the Blazers stormed back from a 23-point deficit Saturday night behind 18 fourth quarter points from a player who less than a week ago was crying as he was left on the bench for much of the game due to injury. Nate McMillan rewarded the one-time All-Star with playing time, and he came through with an outright barrage. Off the dribble, from the corner, slip-screen catch-and-shoot, dagger after dagger after dagger. The crowd responded with a roar, Roy wound up with a four-point-play off a nice sell by Roy on a touch foul, and the Mavericks were caught in a tidal wave of emotion.

That’s sports.

For Dallas, they now get to enjoy two days of non-stop talk about 2006. And 2007. And 2010. Collapses like these define the Mavericks in common media, because it’s easy. That overlooks the incredible job they did in building the lead, which was an outlier in and of itself, as was the bizarre meltdown from the Blazers. The fourth quarter was more a reversion to the mean offensively than anything, from a macro level, and the momentum carried Portland to the win.

That’s a macro level. But to really enjoy this, you have to look micro, you have to look at Roy.

To say that Roy sparked the team on his own sounds absurd, but with 18 in the 4th quarter, what else can you say? Roy used the glass on runners, he nailed pull-up threes. He dropped everything you can think of and went back for more. He played point for a long stretch. That, in itself, is maddening to think about, before you look at his production.

The Mavericks certainly helped out, dropping poor decision after poor decision. Jason Kidd, he of a million years experience, had turnovers. The Mavericks could not convert, despite some key shots from Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki. But strangely, the Mavericks went away from Dirk down the stretch. Part of that is great help defense by the Blazers. All of it led to a 23-point comeback.

Heroic is a word you can use. Outlier is a word you can use. Unbelievable is definitely a word you can use.

It was the stuff of legend, and just when the Mavericks looked like they were going to take complete control of the series, end the hopes of a great crowd, and exert themselves as the better team, the Rose Garden erupts, Brandon Roy returns, and the series is tied. We’ll play three more. If the Mavericks let this get to them, to rattle them and break up their confidence, this could be the upset Blazer fans were so confident about. But regardless, it made for an amazing game, and an incredible comeback for a player who needed it for his soul.